Turkey national football team

• 1. Introduction

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  Turkey's most celebrated moment in international football came on the 29th of June 2002. Hakan Şükür put the ball in the net just 10.8 seconds after kick-off, the fastest goal in World Cup history. The South Koreans had kicked off first. Somehow the ball reached Şükür before the crowd had time to register what was happening.

  Tens of thousands of flag-waving fans greeted the squad on their return to Istanbul. A massive street party filled Taksim Square. It was Turkey's first time on a World Cup podium. Between their 1954 World Cup appearance and 2002, Turkey's federation had watched the team miss tournament after tournament.

  How Turkey reached that podium is a story worth telling in full. So is who made it possible, and how close they came to missing the tournament entirely. It starts on the 26th of October 1923.

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• 2. Born with the Republic

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  On the 26th of October 1923, Turkey played their first international football match at Taksim Stadium in Istanbul. The opponent was Romania, and the result was a 2-2 draw. Zeki Rıza Sporel, later regarded as the first great star of Turkish football, scored both Turkey's goals.

  The Turkish Football Federation had been established that same year, and Turkey became a FIFA member immediately. Both the federation and the republic were proclaimed in 1923. Turkey would not join UEFA until 1962.

  Turkey's debut in official competition came at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, where they fell 5-2 to Czechoslovakia. A player named Bekir Refet scored the first two goals Turkey ever recorded in a competitive fixture. Over the following decades, Turkey appeared at the Olympics five more times, reaching the quarter-finals in 1948 and again in 1952. Those remain the team's best results in the Olympic tournament; the event shifted to an under-23 format from 1992 onward.

  In 1950 came the first painful missed opportunity. Turkey had qualified for the FIFA World Cup by beating Syria 7-0, but financial problems forced them to withdraw. Their chance at the world stage would have to wait a few more years. When it came, it arrived by way of a coin toss.

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• 3. Fate on a Coin

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  Turkey's route to the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland ran through Spain, and it required three matches to decide the winner. Turkey lost the first play-off 4-1. They won the second 1-0. The rules at the time made no provision for aggregate scores, so a third game was arranged. That match also ended 2-2. With no other way to separate the teams, officials tossed a coin. Turkey won and went to Switzerland.

  The draw placed them in a group with Hungary and West Germany. Hungary was one of the most formidable sides of that era. By a quirk of the seeding rules, Turkey inherited the position that Spain had originally held as a seeded team. This meant Turkey never faced Hungary in the group stage. Their campaign opened with a 4-1 defeat to West Germany and recovered sharply with a 7-0 win over South Korea. A play-off to decide the group's second qualifier pitted Turkey against West Germany again. This time Turkey lost 7-2.

  Lefter Küçükandonyadis, regarded as one of the finest Turkish strikers the team has produced, scored two goals in the tournament. His career with the national team spanned 1948-1963, and he finished with 21 goals in 46 appearances, a tally that still places him in the top five of Turkey's all-time scorers.

  In 1956, Turkey hosted Hungary for a friendly in Istanbul. The Hungarians were still among the strongest sides in the world. Turkey beat them 3-1. Most of the players who had carried Turkey to Switzerland would retire in the years that followed. Turkish clubs were beginning to make their presence felt in European competition. For the national team, though, the years ahead would be the most difficult in its history.

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• 4. The Barren Years

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  Turkey entered the 1960s with a new domestic league but a national team still struggling to qualify. Most of the 1954 squad had retired. Their successors failed to reach a single major tournament during the decade. A regional competition called the ECO Cup offered some compensation: Turkey won it in 1967, 1969, and 1974. The 1970s were almost as difficult. Turkey fell a single point short of qualifying for both UEFA Euro 1972 and Euro 1976.

  The 1980s brought some of the team's heaviest defeats. England beat Turkey 8-0 on two separate occasions. Poland had done the same in 1968. Despite those setbacks, the 1990 World Cup qualifiers proved something was changing. Turkey fell just short of reaching that tournament in their final match. The players who drove that campaign included Rıdvan Dilmen, Oğuz Çetin, Rıza Çalımbay, and Feyyaz Uçar. Tanju Çolak, who had won the European Golden Boot, was another key figure.

  In 1990, a new coach took charge. Sepp Piontek had been recommended by Jupp Derwall, who had previously coached Galatasaray for three seasons. Under Piontek, a generation of players debuted who would anchor the national team for years to come. Among them were Bülent Korkmaz, Alpay Özalan, Sergen Yalçın, and the goalkeeper Rüştü Reçber. A young striker named Hakan Şükür was also part of that group.

  Piontek left in 1993 and was replaced by Fatih Terim. Terim guided Turkey to their first major tournament since 1954: UEFA Euro 1996. The appearance in England ended with three defeats and no goals scored. Turkey came home without a point. The tournament's fair play award, however, was given to Alpay Özalan.

  Turkey failed to qualify for the 1998 World Cup. But they came through a play-off against the Republic of Ireland to reach Euro 2000. There, a player named Arif Erdem would become part of one of the tournament's defining moments.

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• 5. To the Podium

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  Turkey's Euro 2000 campaign opened with a 2-1 defeat to Italy and continued with a 0-0 draw against Sweden. Their third group game was against Belgium, the host nation, and Turkey won 2-0. No host had ever been knocked out of the UEFA European Championship at the group stage before. The quarter-final against Portugal ended 2-0 in Portugal's favour. Arif Erdem missed a penalty during that match.

  The 2002 World Cup required Turkey to fight just to qualify. They finished second in their qualifying group behind Sweden, then faced Austria in the play-offs and won 6-0 on aggregate. The tournament itself opened with a 2-1 defeat against eventual champions Brazil. Turkey recovered with a 1-1 draw against Costa Rica and a 3-0 win over China PR to advance from the group stage.

  Japan were Turkey's opponents in the round of 16, played in Rifu. Turkey won 1-0. The quarter-final in Osaka came against Senegal, and Turkey won again 1-0, this time through a golden goal in extra time. Brazil awaited in the semi-final in Saitama. Turkey lost 1-0.

  The third-place match was played in Daegu, South Korea, against the host nation. Turkey won 3-2 to claim the bronze medal. Rüştü Reçber, Alpay Özalan, and Hasan Şaş were all named in the World Cup All-Star Team. Reçber was voted the best goalkeeper in the UEFA Team of the Year for 2002, and head coach Şenol Güneş was named the best manager of the tournament. That year, the Turkish government awarded the State Medal of Distinguished Service to every member of the squad, along with coaching staff and officials.

  In 2003, Turkey finished third at the FIFA Confederations Cup. They beat the United States 2-1 in the group stage, lost to Cameroon 1-0, and drew 2-2 with Brazil, a result that eliminated Brazil from the competition. Turkey then lost 3-2 to eventual winners France in the semi-final before beating Colombia 2-1 in the third-place match. Tuncay scored three goals and an assist across the tournament, earning the Silver Shoe Award and the Silver Ball Award for the competition's second-best player.

  Turkey's next tournament would come five years later. Their opening match at Euro 2008 was a 2-0 defeat to Portugal. They reached the semi-finals anyway.

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• 6. Fighting to the Final Whistle

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  Turkey beat Switzerland 2-1 at Euro 2008, the win sealed with a late goal. They repeated the formula in the third group game, beating the Czech Republic 3-2 with another goal that arrived in the closing minutes. Both results meant Turkey advanced from a group that also contained Portugal.

  The quarter-final against Croatia was played in Vienna and was goalless after 90 minutes. Croatia scored in extra time and led 1-0 into the final minute. Forward Semih Şentürk then equalised for Turkey. Croatia's head coach Slaven Bilić argued that the goal had been scored after extra time had elapsed. The complaint was overruled. Turkey won the penalty shoot-out 3-1.

  The semi-final against Germany was played in Basel. Injuries and suspensions had left Turkey with just 14 fit outfield players. They scored first and were level at 2-2 going into the final minutes. Germany's Philipp Lahm scored in the final minute to give Germany a 3-2 win. Turkey finished the tournament in third place.

  Turkey would not appear at another major tournament for eight years. By the time they returned, the team had undergone a significant period of rebuilding under successive coaches.

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• 7. Return and Resurgence

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  Turkey failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup and lost to Croatia 3-0 on aggregate in the Euro 2012 play-offs. Between those campaigns, Turkey played their 500th international match on the 14th of November 2012. The occasion was a 1-1 draw against Denmark at the Türk Telekom Arena in Istanbul, where former players and coaches were honored before kick-off. Turkey then finished fourth in their qualifying group for the 2014 World Cup. A free kick by Selçuk İnan in the 89th minute of a qualifier against Iceland earned them a return to major tournament football.

  At Euro 2016, Turkey opened with a 1-0 defeat to Croatia and fell 3-0 to Spain. A 2-0 win over the Czech Republic in the final group game was not enough. A result elsewhere in that round denied Turkey a place in the last 16.

  Turkey's Euro 2020 qualifying campaign included a 2-0 home win over France in Konya and a 1-1 draw at the Stade de France in Paris. At the tournament itself, delayed to June and July 2021 by the pandemic, Turkey fell 3-0 to Italy in the opening match. They lost all three group games and went home at the group stage. In the 2022 World Cup play-offs, Turkey faced Portugal and lost 3-1. Burak Yılmaz missed a crucial penalty in that match and announced his international retirement shortly after.

  Turkey spent the 2022-23 UEFA Nations League in League C, winning 13 points from six games to earn promotion to League B. At Euro 2024, drawn into Group F alongside Portugal, the Czech Republic, and Georgia, Turkey finished second in the group. They beat Austria 2-1 in the round of 16 before losing 2-1 to the Netherlands in the quarter-finals, finishing fifth overall.

  In the 2024-25 UEFA Nations League, Turkey finished second in their group behind Wales. In the promotion play-offs against Hungary in March 2025, Turkey won 3-1 in the first leg and 3-0 in the second. The 6-1 aggregate secured promotion to League A for the first time in the team's history and their first win over Hungary in 18 years.

  Turkey qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup under head coach Vincenzo Montella. The play-off semi-final took place in Istanbul on the 26th of March 2026. Ferdi Kadıoğlu's goal in the 53rd minute gave Turkey a 1-0 win over Romania. The final in Pristina on the 31st of March against Kosovo was also won 1-0, with Kerem Aktürkoğlu scoring in the 53rd minute. It was Turkey's first World Cup appearance in 24 years.

  With a confirmed co-hosting role for UEFA Euro 2032 alongside Italy, Turkey's next European Championship appearance is guaranteed before a single qualifier has been played.

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